Urgent appeals on torture of Statkevich and Dashkevich have been sent to the United Nations.

Appeals asking to investigate the facts of inhuman treatment of political prisoners Mikalai Statkevich and Zmitser Dashkevich were sent to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Urgent appeals are filed on suspicion of using
torture against a person and demand immediate interference to stop such
actions, protivpytok.org reports.

The appeal says about unbearable confinement
conditions, placing inmates in one cell with prisoners having highly
contagious diseases or mental disorders, making prisoners starve by
allowing them to buy food and daily necessities articles only at a sum
of 100,000 Belarusian rubles, throwing inmates into punishment cells on
far-fetched grounds. The appeal also informs about a new criminal case
against Zmitser Dashkevich that may add one more year to his prison term
and describes the facts and numerous evidence of cruel and inhuman
treatment of Statkevich in the KGB jail in December 2010.

Incommunicado detention is among the reasons for making urgent appeals.

“The advantage of urgent appeals is that one does
not need to go through all domestic procedures of legal protection.
Urgent appeals are aimed at putting an end to certain actions that
violate the rights of certain persons amid serious concerns about their
safety.

If the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture finds it
necessary, he can send a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
urging the government to ensure the physical and mental integrity of
the persons.

The current UN procedure does not provide for
informing the authors of the appeal or other persons concerned about the
taken measures, so it's difficult to estimate the efficiency of every
appeal. But we need to use all mechanisms to defend the rights of
political prisoners. We hope the efficiency of UN mechanisms will grow
with the appointment of the rapporteur on Belarus,” human rights
activist Daria Korsak said.